UC Department of Family Medicine Community Service Activities

The Department of Family Medicine has a long-standing commitment to provide medical care to underserved populations and to teach medical students, residents, and fellows how to provide high quality care for these patients. Some are funded by grants from local foundations. Others are funded in part, by our non-for-profit 501(c)(3) affiliate - University Family Physicians. Some are activities for which faculty members volunteer their time after hours.

Our principal activities are listed below:

Homeless Care

• Drop Inn Center:  Some faculty volunteer to provide care at the Center
• Homeless Healthcare Van:  Two faculty work on the Van 2 half-days per week each, funded by the Cincinnati Health Network. 
• UC Medical Student Free Clinic:  A faculty member helps supervise students at this Clinic
• Interfaith Hospitality Network:  Two faculty provide mental health care to adolescents at this family shelter, funded by the Andrew Jergens Foundation
• Homeless Respite Center:  A faculty member helped develop this Center, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Two faculty members volunteer as substitute Medical Directors.
• Tender Mercies:  For the mentally ill homeless:  Faculty & staff volunteer to prepare and serve meals at this shelter once per month
• River Downs Race Track:  Faculty and residents provide care for indigent employees one evening per week, funded by the Cincinnati Health Network and other organizations
• Over-the-Rhine Soup Kitchen:  Some faculty volunteer to serve meals at this organization
• “Health Care for the Homeless Conference”:  The Department presents this conference, for all disciplines involved in care of the homeless, every 3-4 years

Latino Immigrants

• Butler County Community Health Center (BCCHC):  Two faculty have large numbers of Latino immigrants (and other underserved patients) in their clinical practices
• BCCHC:  Faculty there sponsor an annual Hispanic Health Fair
• Mt. Healthy Hispanic Clinic:  Faculty and residents operate this special teaching clinic one half-day per week, with federal funding
• Cultural Competence:  We have a contract to provide training in cultural competence to ancillary staff at the BCCHC, funded by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati
• River Downs – (Described above - many of the workers are Latino immigrants)

Service Focusing on Youth

• Interfaith Hospitality Network:  Two faculty provide mental health care to youth staying at this family shelter.  Funded by the Andrew Jergens Foundation
• Hillcrest School (for troubled youth):  One of our faculty members is Medical Director.  She and another faculty member spend one-half day per week there.
• HANDS:  (Health Assistance for the Northwest School District): A family medicine physician is Medical Director and provides care to poor students at Taylor Elementary.
• HANDS:  Our nurse practitioner works at Taylor Elementary 5 days per week.
• Healthy Beginnings Prenatal Clinics.  One of our faculty volunteers at three of this organization’s sites
• New Hope Clinic (Owingsville KY):  A family medicine faculty volunteers to provide health care to poor Appalachian and Latino patients
• Cincinnati Youth Collaborative:  One faculty member serves as a mentor in this program, whose goal is to help youth complete high school.

Elderly Patients

Homebound and Terminally Ill Elderly:  Faculty and residents provide home care to patients as part of a teaching program, funded by the Luther Trust and federal government

Other Underserved Patients

• Family Planning Clinic – Clinton County:  One faculty member volunteers at the Clinic one evening per month
• Mental Health Center – Clinton and Warren Counties:  A faculty member works at the Center
• Free Clinic of Clinton County:  Four faculty donate their time
• Mt. Healthy Family Practice Center:  Faculty and residents provide care to indigent patients as part of a federally-funded teaching grant
• Cross Road Health Center:  A faculty member volunteers at this center.
• BCCHC:  Faculty conduct Head Start physical exams
• New Miami School District:  BCCHC faculty provide numerous health education projects, including “Postponing Sexual Involvement”

International Health Service

• Honduras: Faculty and residents provide free care to indigent populations through biannual two-week visits in this service and training project.
• Amazon Basin:  Faculty and residents from our Clinton Memorial Hospital provide care to another indigent population group, also through two-week brigades.

Faculty Memberships on Community Boards/Committees Involved with Underserved Patients

• Lincoln Heights Health Care Connection
• Cincinnati Area Senior Services
• Wyoming Youth Services
• Alzheimer’s Association
• Recovery Services (Clinton County)
• Free Clinic (Clinton County)
• Cross Road Health Center
• The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati
• Ohio Department of Human Services – Medicaid Policy Committee
• Hispanic Advisory Committee (Children’s Hospital)
• West Chester Hispanic Outreach Coalition